AnglOrony

This walk takes around one hour. So if you have only a wee hour, this is what we would recommend - for the city centre essential tour and a very quick walk. Starting and finishing point - Liverpool Lime Street Station . Lime Street Station  is the place where the greatest revolution in transport took place, and it is the oldest railway station still in use in the world. Opened in 1836, a year before Queen Victoria started her long rule, it served first railway passengers ever. The line linked Liverpool and Manchester, the first industrial city in the world. First post mail in the world was sent by train from Lime Street. Its vast iron and glass arched roof and massive red columns are the characteristics of the station and mark the unique construction methods developed at the start of the Industrial Revolution . One of the first locomotives to be used at that time, the Lion , is on display in the Museum of Liverpool . Next to the station is the grand building...

The Fabric District area near Liverpool Lime Street Station is on the totally contrary path to the tourists' destinations. Mind you, many Liverpooldians are oblivious to the existence of this part of the city centre as well, and ignorant to the idea that the biggest maker of the Police and Royal Navy hats  in the UK is located here, still a family-owned business, Try & Lilly - along with the dressmaker studio, Thelma Madine, who participated her works in the TV show - My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding. There has been a major regeneration going on for some years now, the area gets busier and it's worth a visit. You need to take right and behind Lime Street Station instead of going left or ahead as the crowds do. A truly local spirit of Liverpool past lives there. Going through London Road first, towards the Monument Place Market it is where local residents, students, Royal Hospital workers tend to make their day-to-day shopping and living. Instantly you will submerge yourself...

August was the first month after the 2020 lockdown , to allow people into the art galleries and museums. One had to make an appointment beforehand, though.  We made one, with Linda . The Walker Art Gallery was hosting Linda McCartney’s retrospective photography exhibition.  We had made our way to the glam and much-loved building.    Gladly immersed in this modern exhibition in the old gallery , we tried to make or even find a point (to ourselves) in our modern covid-stricken life. 'We are connected to the culture and we are hungry for it' - we knew that. The whole exhibit pathway was not disappointing. Followed through different timelines , we could have a look and the feel of the artists that was a participant and observant of the iconic cultural revolution that started in the early 1960s .  From depictions of the music scene of the 1960s where she was involved in the Beatles thanks to Paul's engagement with her...  ... to family life with Paul...

After so many years living in the North West , we finally decided to visit the marvel of British seaside resorts . We parked our car a few minutes walk from the town centre, in the vicinity of Hornby Road, to explore it from the 'backyard'.   It looked promising. The streets are filled with semidetached villas which normally would be residential; in Blackpool, many of them are small hotels or Bed & Breakfasts .  Our first good impression turned a bit sour when we stepped into Central Drive, the main road leading to the town attractions, near the Casino at Coral Island.  The Cigarette Waste Art Gallery - something to make your jaw dropped. The very thought of an invention of such an idea! What a bafflement. The whole vicinity is run down, many businesses closed. Suppose, the cigarettes' ends are dropped nearby, quickly collected and made into an art. The pavements were quite clean. Few steps away we already could see the famous landmark, the Blackpool Tower;  pas...

If you are a millionaire on Merseyside, you are most likely to live in Formby. If you are of a lower income living in the area, most likely Formby beach is where you head off for the summer swim. This old Viking settlement has a lot to offer for a one day trip. And you can rub shoulders with some big bucks. The little town is more of a rural character, sitting on its own, surrounded by nothing but miles of arable land and the coast to the west.  Formby famous sand dunes are ever changing, the coastline is on an ongoing threat from the sea erosion. The high tides wash away tons of sand each year. There are different attempts to prevent this. At some parts of the Sefton coast a rubble is put to withhold the erosion, residents are encouraged to donate Christmas trees to be planted by the dunes. And some point, we are advised not to climb. Formby Beach was the location of the first lifeboat station in the UK, established around 1776. The last launch took place in 1916; the...

When you enter the  Llandudno Bay  for the first time and you do not know what to expect, the landscape can take your breath away.  Luckily this is an area free of industry and the  fresh air  can refill your lungs immediately.  Tranquillity of this place is outstanding - if you are out of the tourists season - or better - if you are at the height of a tourist season with hardly any tourist around :) (due to post-lockdown). The views from the end of the pier are so brilliant, the whole of Llandudno’s promenade with its magnificent sequence of  Victorian hotels  can be seen in beautiful setting of the rolling hills behind.  Llandudno Bay  is stretching in the shape of a crescent between two slopes of the limestone headlands:  Great Orme  and  Little Orme .  For a holiday resort the geography is simply ideal.   The shore of two miles is mostly made up of rough shingle but there is also a selected strip of...